Design Inspiration: Rainbow Book Displays

I've been absolutely dying over rainbow-ordered bookshelves for a while now. I am a prolific reader and incorrigible collector, and I've never liked the kind of bookshelf displays where there were one or two books and a whole lot of vases or those weird, useless wicker spheres people seem to like so much (??). Yet I recognize that shelves absolutely packed with books have little visual appeal. Enter the organization-by-color phenomenon (yeah, it's everywhere, but it's so awesome, it should be).

How incredible is this bright and airy library by Craft & Creativity on flickr? IKEA shelves and an incredible effort in organization and sorting. What an eye. Oh lord how I love it.

New library, originally uploaded by Craft & Creativity.

This version creates such a different mood with the dark wood and colorful accessories. Love the deep blue walls, too. Just stunning. This is precisely how I would want my library to look (possible in my dreams only, of course- le sigh).

bookshelf spectrum revisited originally uploaded by Chotda aka Santos

This one is more simplistic, and gives off a sort of bachelor-feel with the open shelving instead of bookcases. This would look terrific with inset shelves (the ones with no visible hardware that look like they're floating).

Rainbow Books originally uploaded by Andrew Coulter Enright

If you own a huge number of black and white rather than colored books, here is a way to balance the rainbow with the monochromatic to create a beautifully symmetrical look:

Rainbow of Books originally uploaded by MindOnFire

...And if you don't have enough books to fill the shelves, or prefer the spare, minimalistic look, try coordinating a few spines with other objects in their color family like this lovely display (yeah, I know, I said I didn't like vases in bookcases so much- I make an exception here.) Also, varying vertical and horizontal placement can create visual interest.

Rainbow Order originally uploaded by paperpie

Have you thought about or actually accomplished organizing your books by color? Do you like this look or are you "over it" since "everyone's doing it"? I like to be a little different so it is strange to think about adopting something super-trendy, but sometimes trends stick because they are just plain awesome, so I'm calling this aesthetically pleasing idea wonderful enough to not care less whether everyone else likes it, too.

What We Wore: Halloween!

As promised, here are some pics of the Cyndi costume!

Makeup and Hair

The Whole SheBop (haha)

We had so, so much fun with this outfit! We had originally planned on doing Madonna, but Cyndi proved to be quite a bit easier to pull off, and much more fun.

Did you have a good Halloween? Did you dress up? Tell us what you were (and link to pics if you can!)

What We Bought: Halloween Costume at Oona's

Our all-time favorite little vintage store, which we've frequented since we were a Vamp-lipsticked, clove-smoking, angsty little teen who hung out at Cafe Pamplona writing bad poetry, is Oona's in Harvard Square, where we stopped in to check out their "Experienced Clothing" certainly monthly for a good portion of our life.


On our latest visit-- our first in too long, definitely-- we found it much the same as always, with the owner working the counter and the shop's namesake, her daughter, working too, along with a couple of other awesomely amiable employees. It's a tiny place and we were afraid that with their sizeable Halloween section (replete with everything from gorgeous prom dresses to psychedelic mod minidresses to purple shiny bootcut leggings!) it would be mobbed, but it was just fine. They expect the next few days to get progressively worse, so we recommend that if you haven't figured out your costume and you're local, you check them out sooner rather than, say, Friday.

Anyway... we switched up from the original plan of Madonna c. Like a Virgin due to the sheer seeming impossiblity of finding huge lacy crinolines and non-revealing bustiers and tons of cross necklaces and granny boots for little money... in a similar genre but definitely more of an idol to us is Cyndi of course.

Our (crappily collaged) inspiration board:



Here's the work in progress:



Pink lace long-sleeve, campsite offer of $4 at Oregon Country Fair
Black sequined v-neck, Oona's, Studio 1940 brand, $10
Tutu, new at Oona's (from China, sad, but handmade tutus are expensive!) $18
Turquoise cotton skirt, Oona's, $5
Purple asymmetric chiffon skirt, Discount Dance Supply, $17

We're going to add black leggings, our pythonesque scrunchy boots, lots and LOTS of bracelets and other jewels, and crazy makeup and hair of course. We won't be able to rock the bangs, unfortunately, but we'll do something big and 80s and colorful, anyway.

We shall see how it goes! What are you doing for Halloween?

InStyle's Key Pieces for Fall: Bright Trench Coat

Today we're looking for bright trenches that aren't astronomically expensive, like the Versace and other high-end designer coats in InStyle's fall "five key pieces" feature. A stunning, saturated coat is a wonderful alternative to the staid and traditional beige or black- and we don't advocate staying away from color completely underneath as InStyle does; have a little fun! Why not?

We're willing to extend our $30 price limit a bit for certain key pieces like a great coat or pair of boots... possibly even up to $100, but all of these pieces are half of that, or less!

Our Polyvore set includes both brights and an incredible zebra option (animal print is classically awesome no matter the season or style, but it is hot right now), $29-$50 (click the pic for links to purchase):

Fall Trenches for <$50 by ThriftyStylist featuring Nine West

These are from some unexpected sources (Nine West at Wilson's leather? Home Shopping Network? Patagonia?) but they're all lovely and quite affordable.

If you prefer to score something that no one else will have, try a vintage piece from Etsy. All of these stunners are under $50 as well: thrifty and environmentally conscious (bottom right, orange, is only $8!!

(Since the Etsy mini won't publish, go to our public favorites for individual listings!)

Are you going to buy a new trench for fall? Would you consider vintage? What colors do you like best? (We're dying over the purple one, of course!)

Happy Friday and happy shopping!